‘The Avengers’ Animatics Reveal The Movie Was Originally Even More Action (And Wasp) Packed

Animatics are crudely animated storyboards typically created during the early planning stages of a film — usually they’re only used for animated movies, but The Avengers was so effects-heavy it was practically a cartoon anyways, so director Joss Whedon had artist Federico D’Alessandro create animatics for most of the movie’s scenes.

Well, today Federico released some animatics for scenes that either didn’t appear in The Avengers, or were changed in some significant way by the time they made it to the big screen. They’re definitely an interesting look at what might have been. Hit the jump to check them out…

First off, the original, far more badass introduction to Iron Man. This scene is more exciting than basically anything that happened in Iron Man 3.

Next up, a different version of Loki’s escape from S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Continuing the trend from the last video, this is a lot more badass and Iron Man-filled that what we got in the final movie.

Here’s an extended, less-snarky version of Tony Stark and Loki’s little chat from later in the movie.

Finally, here’s an animatic for the big climatic scene. It plays out similarly to what you saw in the final movie, with one big exception — Wasp is included. First in the background at the 17-second mark, and again at the iconic “the gang’s all together and ready to kick ass” pan-around shot.